Machine for grooving paper, &amp;c.



PATENTED JULY 2 1903.

W. P. NORTHGOTT. MACHINE FOR GROOVING PAPER, &c.

APPLiOATION-IILBD 318517, 1908.

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PATE NTED JULY 21, 1903.

W. P. NORTHGOTT. MACHINE FOR enoovme PAPER, 6...

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17, 1902.

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PATENTED JULY 21, 1903.

W. P. NORTHGOTT. MACHINE FOR GROOVING PAPER, &c.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 17, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEEP 3.

N0 MODEL.

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No. 734,278. PATENTED JULY 21, 1903, W. P. NORTHGOTT.

MACHINE FOR GROO VING PAPER, 820 APPLIOAIION FILED JAN. 17, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented July 21, mos.

PATENT ()FFIG-E.

WILLIAM P. NonrHo-o'rnoF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR oRo'ovlNo PAPER, 860,.

SIEFGIFIGA'IION formingpart of Letters Patent N 0. 734,278 dated July 21, 1903. Application filed January 17, 1902. Serial No. 90,136. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it'known that I, WILLIAM P. NORTH- COTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in. the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Machines for Grooving Paper and other Sheets, of which the fol lowing is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates more especially to means for forming grooves in sheets of paper that are to be utilized in the manufacture of proved and efficient means for commercially producing grooves in sheets.

In illustrating an example of my invention I have elected to show a machine adapted for forming discontinuous grooves,such as shown paper or other like .and described in my aforesaid patent, but it will neverthelessbe.understood that my in vention in'its broadest aspect is capable of being utilized for producing grooves of other forms, and my invention is therefore not limited to means for'producing this particular form of groove.

Vith the aforesaid ends in view my invention consists incertain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure' l is a front elevation of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fi 3 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 3, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the lateral projection of the face of the cam in the act of restoring the finger to the periphery of the cam, as hereinafter described. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail View of the means for gaging the depth of the cut, the stem being shown in plan. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail side elevation showin one sheet in the act of passing the cutters and another sheet being delivered onto the rev ceiving or delivery table. Fig. 7' is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 7 7, Fig. 1; and Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of a part of the grinderframe and the grinders and shaft supported thereon.

The example of my invention shown in the drawings comprises, briefly, mechanism similar to the ,feed mechanism and impressioncylinder of a cylinder printing-press, in combination with novel devices for cutting or grinding the groove or grooves in the paper or sheet as it is held by such cylinder. The sheets are laid upon a feed board, from which they are automatically taken by the grippers of the cylinder, and thus wrapped around the cylinder and dragged past one or more of the grinders, which are preferably of a rotary type and adapted to engage and wear away the sheet as it passes the grinder. If the groove in the sheet is to be of a discontinuous form, means will be provided for periodically rendering the grinder inactive on the sheet, so as to skip, and thereby constitute alined grooves with short intervals of the paper between their ends left intact.

1 is the feed-board before referred to, which may be constructed like the feed-board of an ordinary cylinder printing-press or of any other suitable form and upon which the sheets 2 are fed one at a time in the ordinary way, where they are held in position by gages or stops 3, mounted upon transverse shaft 4, jourualed in frame members 5. The gages or stops 3 are actuated to rise and permit the sheet 2 to slide downwardly at the proper time by a suitable cam 6, mounted on a shaft 7 and engaging the lower end of a rod 8, whose upper end is pivoted to a crank-arm 9 on the shaft 4. At or about the time the gages 3 rise the lower edge of the sheet is engaged by grippers 10, two sets of which are shown on diametrically opposite sides of the cylinder 11, which latter is secured to shaft 7, as will be understood. Thesegrippers are held in their closed positions by means of springs 12, sleeved upon stems or rods 13, whose outer ends are pivoted to tumblers 14, while their inner ends pass through keepers 15, between which and suitable lugs 16 on the rods the springs 12 hear, so as to hold the grippers closed. at the proper time in substantially the same way that the grippers of a cylinder printingpress are opened when it is necessary to release the sheet-that is to say, by the tumblers 14- striking against a suitable trip, which is shown in the form of a lug 17, secured to main frame member 18 and arranged in the path of one end of each of the tumblers 14, or any other suitable means may be employed. A similar trip or lug 1.) is employed at a11- other point for opening the grippers when they arrive at the lower end of the feed-board 1, whereby they will be in readiness to receive the sheet as it slips past the gages 3.

It is preferable to employ two sets of grippers, as described, in order that two sheets may pass through the machine while the cylinder is making a single revolution. As the sheets arrive at a point under the cylinder where one set of grippers is released by the trip 17 they are engaged and pressed against the periphery of the cylinder by suitable tapes 20, which pass over idlers 21 22 23, thus serving to feed the sheet away from the cylinder and deliver it onto the delivery-table 24, a rranged under and adjacent to the ends of the tapes 20 where they pass over the idler 21.

The cylinder 11, which constitutes the backing member for the sheet for sustaining the latter while being acted upon by the grinder or grinders hereinafter described, which cut the groove or grooves, is revolved at the requisite rate of speed from a driving-shaft 25, jonrnaled in the main frame, and a bracket 26 and having keyed thereto a suitable pulley 27, by which power may be derived from any suitable source. To the shaft is keyed pinion 28, which imparts rotation to the cylinder-shaft 7 through-the intermediary of gear 29, secured to said shaft 7.

30 31 are the grinders, which in the example of my invention shown in the drawings are in the form of two pairs of thin emerywheels or wheels composed of any other suitable material capable of grooving the paper by frictional contacttherewith. The number of the wheels employed will of course be dependent upon the number of grooves to be formed at one time, and the width and relative location of the wheels will be dependent upon the character of the grooves desired.

I have shown two pairs of the wheels in this example of my inventionin order that a single sheet of paper may be grooved at different points, so as to constitute two sheets of a ledger or book, each with a groove or pair of grooves at the point of greatest flexure parallel with and adjacent to the binding. These grinders or cutters 3O 31 areheld by suitable hubs 32, mounted upon a transverse shaft 33, and they are adjustable longitudinally of the shaft 33, so that the grooves may be formed at various points with reference to the length of the cylinder 11 as desired. These hubs are held in place on the shaft in any suitable way, as by means of set-screws 34 pass- The grippers are released or opened in g through the hubs and impinging the shaft. The shaft is mounted in the upper ends of rocker-arms 35, which are formed with and constitute part of a frame 36, on which is supported a bearing 37, which support-s the shaft 33 at an intermediate point, and thereby prevents undue vibration. In order that the bearing 37 may be shifted to permit of the requisite adjustment of the'grinders, it is adjustably secured to the frame 30 by means of set-bolts 38 passing through slot 3.) in frame 36 and having nuts 40 engaging under the frame, whereby the bearing may be locked in place.

The arms 35 are mounted at their lower ends upon a rocker-shaft 41, to which they are secured by set-screws 42 or other suitable devices, the ends of shaft 41 being journaled in suitable bearings 43 on the main frame, and sleeved upon shaft 41 is a spring 44, whose intermediate portion is bent up into engagement with the frame 36, as shown at 45, while the extremities of the spring are secured to the main frame, so that the tendency of the spring will be to oscillate the frame 36 outwardly and throw the grinders 3O 31 out of contact with the surface of the paper. The shaft 33 and the grinders thereon are revolved continuously at a high rate of speed by a pulley 46, mounted on a shaft 47, which is prefably separated from the aforesaid drivingshaft 25, in order that it may revolve at a higher rate of speed than it would be desirable at which to run shaft 25. Shaft 47 may be driven from any suitable source by a small belt-pulley 48 thereon, and the motion of pulley 46 is transmitted to shaft 33 through the intermediary of belt 49 and a smallpulley 50 on shaft 33, thus enabling the shaft 33 to continue at a high speed of rotation whether the grinders be in engagement with the paper or thrown out of engagement by the spring 44.

The grinders are forced into engagement with the paper preferably by positive means, which will now be described.

51 is a rocker-shaft, which is journaled at opposite ends in the main frame and is capable of limited longitudinal movement, such longitudinal movement being limited in one direction by a collar 52 on the end of the shaft outside of the main frame, and in the other direction by a similar collar 53, adapted to abut against the inner side of the main frame. Mounted upon and secured to this shaft are two arms 54, which are adapted to engage against the outer faces of the rocker-arms 35, and by thus pressing the latter oscillate the frame 36 toward the cylinder 11 and force the grinders into engagement with the surface of the paper as it is held on the cylinder.

The end of the shaft 51 opposite that on which the collars 52 53 are mounted passes through the main frame and is rigidly secured to a short arm 55, and mounted loosely upon shaft 51 contiguous to arm 50 is a long finger 56, which is clamped at its upper end to arm 55 by means of a setbolt 57, passing through.

a slot 58 in finger 56, and another threaded in the arm 55, so that the finger 56 and arm 55 may be relatively adjusted for the purpose which will be presently described. The lower end of this finger 56, as better shown in Fig. 6, engages with a cam 59, mounted upon and revolving with the cylinder-shaft 7. By the means described it will be seen that the position of the grinders with relation to the surface of the paper will be dependent upon the form of the periphery of this cam 59, and hence by making irregularities-that is to say, depressions and elevationsin the pe-' riphery of the cam the grinders will be forced inwardly, or toward the paper, by the cam and in the opposite direction by the spring 44, and by placing these depressions and elevations at suitable intervals apart the groove formed in the paper may be discontinued wherever desired, and hence, if desired, each sheet may be provided with a plurality of short grooves extending thereacross in line with each other, or by varying the shape of the cam each sheet may have one or more single grooves continuing either entirely across the sheet or from a point near the bottom to a point near the top without interruption. It will also be seen that by adjusting the members 55 56, which impart the motion or action of the cam 59 to the grinders 3O 31, the grinders may be driven farther into the sheet by the cam at one time than at another, whereby not only the depth of the groove may be regulated, but wearing away of the grinders may be compensated for. In order that this adjustment may be accomplished with great nicety, the upper end of the finger 56 is provided with a toothed segment 60, with which engages a worm or screw 61, journaled in suitable bearings 62 63, formed on or secured to the arm 55, the screw being provided with a turning-knob 64 and a pointer or index 65, bearing proper relative position to a graduated dial 66, secured to arm 55, so that the relative position of the finger 56 and arm 55 may be readily noted.

When it is desired to throw the grinders out of action for any greater length of time than might be accomplished automatically by the cam 59, the shaft 51 is shifted longitudinally, so as to carry finger 56 laterally out of the plane of cam 59, whereby the latter will cease to act on the finger and the spring 44 will continue to holdlthe grinders away from the cylinder. This longitudinal shifting of shaft 51 may be accomplished by meansof a hand-lever 67, pivoted at its lower end to any suitable bracket 68 and connected by link 69 to an arm 70, which is secured to a countershaft 71, journaled in brackets 72 and having an arm 7 3, whose upper end engages between two flanges 74 of a collar which is secured to shaft 51. Hence by pulling outwardly on lever 67 shaft 51 will also be pulled outwardly and finger 56 held away from cam 59. .Whenit is desired to again throw the machine into action, or, more accurately speaking, to restore the finger 56 to its operative relation to cam 59, the operator pushes inwardly on lever 67 and thereby forces the side of finger 56 against the face of cam 59, where it would remain but for one or more lateral'projections or inclined shoes 75 formed on or secured to the face of the cam and having their inclined edges projecting from a point inwardly of the periphery to a point outwardly beyond the periphery of the cam, so that when the finger is struck by one of these shoes it will be thrown outwardly transversely of the axis of the cam, and if the operator continues to push upon the handle or lever 67 at this moment the finger 56 will shift still further toward the cam, and hence eventually arrive at a position in a plane therewith, so as to engage the periphery thereof, where it will remain until again pulled outwardly, it being held against the periphery by the action of spring 4a through the intermediary of the connections already described. Two of these shoes 75 are shown at points diametrically opposite each other, because the machine is designed to take two sheets, one after the other, the second one being grasped by the grippers before the first has been delivered, and hence it will be understood that the number of these shoes is dependent upon the number of sheets that are to be on the cylinder at onetime. The outer edge of each of these shoes 75 constitutes a promontory of one of the aforesaid projections on the periphery of the cam, which holds ,the grinders in engagement while making a short cut. When. the finger 56 drops off the outeredge of shoe 75 and falls into contact with' the periphery of the cam where it is reduced indiameter, the grinders cease to groove the paper for a short distance, whereupon the finger is again deflected by another promontory 76 on the periphery of the cam, which may be of greater or less length according to the length of the groove to be formed, the cam on the diametrically opposite side being formed with another promontory 77, equal in extent to the promontory 76, so that the second sheet will be groovedlike the first, or, in' other words, the depressions and prom'ontories on one side of the cam being duplicatedon the other side whatever their formation may be, and it may be here stated that the number and comparativelengths of the depressions and pro'montories are entirely immaterial.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is'- 1'. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of means for grinding the groove, means for moving the sheet past said grinding means and a cam moving with the sheet-moving means for forcing said grinding means toward the sheet, substantially as set forth.

'2, In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for sustaining the sheet while being ICC grooved, a grinder movable toward and from the sheet for engaging and grooving the same, means comprising a cam and a finger bearing on said cam for periodically rendering said grinder alternately active and inactive on the sheet, and means for shifting said finger out of contact with said cam, substantially as set forth.

3. 111 a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for sustaining the sheet while being grooved, a grinder movable toward and from said backing member for en gaging and grooving the sheet, means comprising a cam and a finger bearing on said cam for periodically rendering said grinder alternately active and inactive on the sheet, means for shifting said finger laterally out of contact with said cam and yielding means for pressing said finger both longitudinally and transversely of the axis of said cam, substantially as set forth.

4. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for sustaining the sheet while being grooved, a grinder movable toward and from the sheet, means comprising a cam and a finger bearing on said cam for periodically rendering the grinder alternately active and inactive on the sheet, means for shifting said finger laterally out of engagement with said cam, means for pressing the finger both longitudinally and transversely of the axis of the cam and a lateral projection on the side of the cam for engaging said finger and foreing it outwardly transversely of the axis of the cam, substantially as set forth.

5. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for sustaining the sheet while being grooved, a grinder movable toward and from the sheet, means comprising a cam and a finger bearing on the cam for periodically rendering the grinder alternately active and inactive on the sheet, means for shifting said finger laterally out of engagement with the cam, yielding means for pressing said finger both longitudinally and transversely of the axis of the cam, said cam being in the form of a disk and an inclined projection extending laterally from the face of such disk from a point within the circumference thereof to a point outwardly beyond the circumference for engaging said finger and forcing it outwardly transversely of the axis of the cam, substantially as set forth.

6. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a cam, means comprising two relatively adjustable members for imparting the action of said cam to said grinder for moving the latter toward and from the surface of the backing member and a screw having operative connection with said members for adjusting them relatively to each other, substantially as set forth.

7. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a cam, means comprising two relatively adjustable pivoted members for imparting the action of said cam to said grinder for moving the latter toward and from the surface of the backing member, one of said members having a toothed segment, and a screw journaled on the other of said members and engaging said segment for adjusting said members relatively one to the other, substantially as set forth.

8. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a cam, means comprising two relatively adjustable members for imparting the action of said cam to said grinder for moving the latter toward and from the surface of the backing member, a screw having operative connection with. said members for relatively adj ustiug them and a setbolt for locking said members against accidental movement relatively to one another, substantially as set forth.

9. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a cam, means comprising two members adjustable relatively to each other for imparting the action of said cam to said grinder for moving the latter toward and from the face of the backing member, said members being movable longitudinally and transversely of the axis of said cam and means for shifting said members longitudinally of the axis of the cam for rendering the latter inactive on said members, substantially as set forth.

10. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a cam, means mov able independently of said grinder and comprising two members adjustable relatively to each other for imparting the action of said cam to said grinder and moving the latter toward and from the face of the backing member, said members being movable both longitudinally and transversely of the axis of the cam, and means for shifting said members longitudinally of the axis of the cam,whereby the cam will be rendered inactive on said members, substantially as set forth.

11. In a machine for grooving paper and other sheets the combination of a backing member for the sheet, a grinder for engaging and grooving the sheet, a rocker-shaft, an arm on said shaft for forcing the grinder against the sheet, two relatively adjustable connected members one of which is secured to said shaft and a cam for engaging and oscillating the other of said members and thereby oscillating said shaft and moving said grinder toward and from the face of the backing member, said cam being independent of I said camto said arm eomprisingafinger adapt the said member which it engages, snbstaned to bear against the cam and movable longitially as set forth. tndinally with said arm,ashift-lever,arocker 12.- In a machine for grooving paper and shaft connected to said shift-lever, and an I 5 5 other sheets the combination of a backing arm on said rocker-shaft having operative remember for the sheet, a grinder for engaging lation to said first arm for shifting the latter and grooving the sheet movable toward and longitudinally, substantially as set forth.

from the sheet, a longitudinally-movable and WILLIAM P. NORTHCOTT. oscillatory arm for moving said grinder to- Witnesses:

10 Ward and from the face of the backing mem- F. A. HOPKINS,

her, a cam, means for imparting the action of WV. D. CROSS. 

